Iraq Crisis | Situation Report | 1 March to 30 April

Displacement and return trends continued throughout March and April 2016, most notably in Anbar, Ninewa, Salah al-Din and Kirkuk governorates. IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), as of April 28, identified 3,333,384 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 656,778 returnees, an increase in returns of 99,378 since 2 March 2016.

IOM continued distributing non-food item (NFI) kit and focusing on critical shelter rehabilitation. IOM distributed 6,046 NFI kits across five governorates in March and April 2016 (Anbar, Diyala, Erbil, Ninewa and Salah al-Din.) The NFI kits were provided through the support of the US Government and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In order to improve the living conditions of IDPs in critical shelter arrangements such as religious buildings and unfinished buildings, IOM carried out shelter rehabilitations with support from the US Government and the EU’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) for 479 units in Baghdad and Salah al-Din governorates, out of a total of 829 planned.

Um Abdulsalam, a 50 year old woman from Salahaddin, lived in an unfinished building that IOM rehabilitated. She said: “There were insects and animals here, and this building was just walls and roof: dirt floor, no doors or windows, no electricity or lighting. Now I have all of these. I thank IOM.”

IOM also upgraded four IDP camps in Baghdad, from unplanned to fully operational, organized camps, by training camp management staff to build their camp coordination and camp management skills.

A cash distribution, sponsored by the US Association for International Migration, was conducted in Erbil for the most vulnerable Syrian refugees living outside camps; 100 families received cash to address their most pressing needs, including food, shelter and healthcare.